Hottest tickets in town: Yanks racked up violations in Fla.
When Aroldis Chapman hits 97 miles per hour on the radar, it usually pays the bills — the Yankee closer brings home about $100,000 per recorded out in a typical year. But when Chapman hits 97 on the gun in his white Porsche in a 70-mile-per-hour zone, he’s the one who pays.
He pays $278, to be exact.
Players and coaches the in Yankees organization have racked up more than 40 tickets for traffic violations in Florida in the last decade — half of which came during the months of February and March, when the Yankees get ready for the season in Tampa — a Daily News review of Florida court records found.
Twenty-one of the 42 tickets were dished out to the team during those two months, when the players and coaches report to Tampa for spring training. Others came when players were on the team formerly known as the Tampa Yankees, at their offseason homes or during the regular season.
The review included players, coaches and front office staff of the last ten Yankee rosters. All included tickets came when players were on the Yankees or their minor league teams between 2012 and 2020. The review does not, therefore, include instances such as the time former Yanks shortstop Didi Gregorius was ticketed for doing 91 in a 50 a few months after signing with the Phillies. That said, Gregorius listed home address at the time as “1 Steinbrenner Dr, Tampa, FL” — otherwise known as George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training facility — so he was still sporting the pinstripes in spirit.
The Bronx Bombers were stopped by cops for a variety of reasons: They ran red lights, blew through stop signs, made improper turns or sped like Chapman did. The Yankees say they’ve offered free ride services to players, coaches, and field staff at spring training dating back at least a decade.
Not even the Steinbrenner family could escape the long arm of the Florida traffic justice system, with Hal Steinbrenner paying a fine for a seat belt violation — though that was back in 1997.
The deluge of tickets does come with a recent twist, however. According to current records, the 2021 Yankees went all of spring training without picking up any new moving violations. (Tampa-area speeding tickets decreased by 92% in 2020 as cops say they were told to stop ticketing minor traffic offenses.)
Before the pandemic, Tampa police had a quota policy that led to the most aggressive traffic enforcement in all of Florida, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Unquestionably the most serious offense came in 2019, when first baseman Mike Ford was busted on a DUI charge late at night before a spring training off-day — just months before his major league debut, The News found.
The case, which has not been previously reported, was later adjudicated as “reckless driving” after he pleaded no contest in early 2020 to the lower charge and went to DUI school, according to court records.
Other Yankees have been charged with DUIs in Florida, although unlike Ford’s case, they were previously reported: outfielder Mason Williams (2013) and pitcher Michael Pineda (2012).
Past and present Yankees stars were not immune either, with Aaron Judge picking up two tickets in March 2019 and ace Gerrit Cole getting caught speeding when he was in the minors in 2012. CC Sabathia was ticketed four times while pitching in pinstripes, including three times in 2016-17 spring trainings. Sabathia pleaded guilty to driving 80 in a 60 in 2017.
Alex Rodriguez was dinged for “following too closely” in February 2010.
Starting pitcher Domingo German picked up four tickets for running red lights in 2019 and 2020. Three of the tickets came while he was suspended from MLB for domestic abuse.
No player or coach had more tickets than German. Former manager Joe Girardi was ticketed for three infractions on April 17, 2014, although all three, including speeding, were dismissed.
Girardi’s pitching coach, Larry Rothschild, also had three tickets dismissed, getting pulled over for speeding in 2014 and 2017. Rothschild, now the pitching coach for the Padres, has been ticketed in Florida in at least six incidents, according to public records, though only three came while he was an MLB coach. Mets reliever Dellin Betances was ticketed four times while in the Yankees organization; three were while he was a minor leaguer from 2008-10.
Overall, 15 of the tickets were for speeding. Another ten were for running red lights or stop signs. The rest were mostly miscellaneous moving violations. Sabathia, Rothschild, Girardi and former first baseman Greg Bird were in a small group that had registration or insurance violations tacked onto their tickets.
A similar court review for the Mets turned up far fewer tickets. The Mets train in Port St. Lucie, famously one of the sleepiest spring training towns, while the Yankees spend spring in Tampa. Most, but not all, of the team’s tickets are in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa.
Tampa police say that roads becoming less clogged because of the pandemic led to an increase in severe speeding in the spring of 2020, even with overall tickets down. Clint Frazier, Michael King and third base coach Phil Nevin were all ticked at 2020 spring training, which shut down on March 12 because of the pandemic. But for the Yankees, the worst year on the streets was 2019.
In addition to Ford’s reckless driving incident, Yankees received four other tickets in the last pre-pandemic spring training. Aaron Judge received two in one incident for passing too aggressively and an illegal left turn, German (pre-suspension) ran a red light and Chance Adams was pulled over for going 77 in a 45. Adams’ ticket was later dismissed.
Until 2021, every season saw at least one Yankee ticketed in Florida. Only one year saw fewer than three. At 2018 spring training, Gleyber Torres was pulled over for going 64 in a 45, extending the streak for another year.